{"id":435769,"date":"2025-07-12T22:53:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T22:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=435769"},"modified":"2025-07-12T22:53:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T22:53:18","slug":"justin-thomas-almost-bags-free-car-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/justin-thomas-almost-bags-free-car-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Thomas Almost Bags Free Car in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Thomas<\/a> came close to winning a free car at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open<\/a> after a brilliant shot. Thomas hit a near-perfect tee shot that landed softly on the green and rolled just inches short of the hole while playing the par-3 17th at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. The 32-year-old would have driven away with a luxury Genesis GV70 SUV[,\/] while his caddie, Matt Minister, would have received a Genesis GV60 as part of the prize package.<\/p>\n

Thomas’s Ball Stops A Foot Short to Deny Him a New Car<\/h2>\n

The Scottish Open\u2019s par-3 17th hole is always the center of attraction at the tournament, and comes with even more excitement thanks to a special prize from tournament sponsor Genesis. The South Korean car company offered up two brand-new cars to the first player to hit a hole-in-one at the hole, one for the golfer and one for their caddie.<\/p>\n

Justin Thomas nearly made it happen when his tee shot landed right at the top of the green and rolled toward the flag, looking perfect the whole way. But the ball stopped just a foot short, leaving him and his caddie, Matt Minister, just shy of driving off with a new car each. Thomas would have won a Genesis GV70 SUV, while Minister was in line for a GV60.<\/p>\n

The 17th hole has become one of the must-watch moments of the weekend at The Renaissance Club, where the Scottish Open is played. Thanks to the hole-in-one prize, the short par-3 adds extra thrill to every swing. Thomas is currently in strong form after a rough stretch in 2023. The 32-year-old has bounced back in 2025 with solid performances across the PGA Tour<\/a> and DP World Tours, and he’s now considered one of the favorites at The Open next week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thomas Focused Despite Missing Out on a New Car<\/h2>\n

Only one player has managed to win the prize. A relatively unknown English golfer, Jordan Smith \u2014 is the only golfer to have achieved the feat since 2022. Tournament organizers awarded the 32-year-old and his caddie, Sam Matton, the cars during a special event at Battersea Power Station after they achieved the feat.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Justin Thomas lines up a putt on the first hole during the third round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite missing out on the prize, Thomas finished the round at two-under-par and stayed in contention heading into the weekend. With strong winds expected over the next two days, anything can happen.<\/p>\n

The two Genesis cars together are worth over \u00a3100,000, making them a major bonus for any lucky player. But they are not the only rewards at stake this week. Players who finish in the top-17 at the tournament will earn more than six figures in prize money, and the winner will walk away with over a million dollars from a total purse of $9 million shared among the top 80 players.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Thomas came close to winning a free car at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open after a brilliant shot. Thomas hit a near-perfect tee shot that landed softly on the green and rolled just inches short of the hole while playing the par-3 17th at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. The 32-year-old would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5425,"featured_media":435774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,19],"tags":[8143,3179,50],"class_list":["post-435769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-pga","tag-genesis-scottish-open","tag-jordan-smith","tag-justin-thomas"],"modified_by":"Ajayi Segun","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435769"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435776,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435769\/revisions\/435776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}